Units sold

Predecessor

Successor

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES (also called SNES and Super Nintendo) is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. In Japan, the system is called the Super Famicom (スーパーファミコン,Sūpā Famikon?, officially adopting the abbreviated name of its predecessor, the Family Computer), or SFC for short. In South Korea, it is known as the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent direct compatibility.

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System. The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities that compensated for its relatively slow CPU compared to other consoles at the time. Additionally, the system's support for numerous enhancement chips, which shipped as part of certain game cartridges, helped keep it competitive in the marketplace.

The SNES was a global success, becoming the best-selling console of the 16-bit era despite its relatively late start and the fierce competition it faced in North America from Sega's Genesis console. The SNES remained popular well into the 32-bit era, and although Nintendo has dropped all support for the console, it continues to be popular among fans, collectors, and emulation enthusiasts, many of whom are still making "homebrew" ROM images.

Forty-nine million SNES units were sold worldwide, 20 million of which were sold in the U.S.[1] Although it could not repeat the success of the NES, which sold over 60 million units worldwide,[2] the SNES was the best-selling console of its era.

Nintendo of America ceased production of the SNES in 1999.[3] In Japan, Nintendo continued production of the Super Famicom until September 2003.[4] The SNES was then succeded by the Nintendo 64.

Super Metroid was released for the SNES 1994 in 1994. It was the only game in the Metroid series to be released on the SNES and became one of the best-selling Metroid games ever, as well as one of the greatest games of all time.[5][6]

Super Metroid is one of 21 games included on the SNES Classic Edition, which was released on September 29, 2017.[7]